To what extent was the vision of Cambodia underpinned by the ideal of a class based revolution and to what extent was it based on nationalist xenophobia?

In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh to bring an end to five years of civil war, invasions and bombardment and mark the beginning of a regime that would destroy many Cambodian's lives. Statistics vary, but by the end of their four year occupation more than one million Cambodians had perished. This new regime had a vision for Cambodia. This vision was to create a nation based on the Khmer race and involved …

…in Samuel Totten, William S. Parsons, Israel W. Charny (eds.), Century of Genocide: Eyewitness Accounts and Critical Views. New York: Garland Publishers, 1997: 431-463. Metzl, Jamie Frederic. Western Responses to Human Rights Abuses in Cambodia, 1975-80. London: MacMillan Press, 1996. Peang-Meth, Abdulgaffar. 'Understanding the Khmer: Sociological-Cultural Observations.' Asian Survey, Vol. 31, no. 5 (May 1991): 442-455. Peou, Sorpong. Intervention and Change in Cambodia: Towards Democracy? New York: St. Martins Press, 1999. Vickery, Michael. Cambodia: 1975-1982. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1984.